FAU’s bag are packed, ready to make jump to Conference USA

Florida Atlantic has made the right decision in working with Conference USA to expedite its move into the conference.

The jump should be made official late next week after the conference’s meetings in Miami

I was critical of the university for not being proactive in the conference realignment game nine months ago so it’s only fair now that AD Pat Chun (who was not around during that time that the Owls were left behind) and president Mary Jane Saunders receive the praise today.

Everything Chun has done since arriving last summer says he has the program on the upswing, and the topper is upgrading its profile with the move into Conference USA.

The Sun Belt is dying a slow death. The conference is by far the lowest in the Division I-A (now FBS) and is becoming a glorified I-AA conference. Let’s face it, one of the primary reasons this conference exits is to provide the major powers a I-A opponent to write a $1 million check for a cushy, guaranteed home win.

And I know the league had a nice year with an unusual number of upsets (Western Kentucky over Kentucky, ULM over Arkansas, Middle Tennessee over Georgia Tech), but those are few and far between and will be even more rare as the league digs down to replace those programs that are leaving.

Conference USA is not exactly pushing the Big Five BCS conferences (the Big East will no longer be part of that group after next season), but it certainly is a step up from the Sun Belt and a necessary move for FAU to make its next move to becoming a mid-major.

The Owls should fit right into a conference with a footprint that spans from Texas to Tennessee and over to the Eastern Seaboard. This will be a major upgrade in profile considering C-USA’s television contracts with Fox Sports Net and CBS College Sports bring in about $14 million a year and calls for at least 35 conference football games to be televised annually. FAU will benefit greatly from the approximately $1 million it will now receive in TV revenue, which by the way solves the dilemma of paying up to $1 million to exit the Sun Belt. That figure by the way is being negotiated and is expected to land somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million.

By comparison, the Sun Belt receives virtually nothing for ESPN to guarantee seven telecasts a year. The number is so low the league will have no part in releasing a figure but I have heard each school has received somewhere from $20,000 to $35,000 a year.

My suggestion is to place newcomers FAU, FIU and Middle Tennessee into the Eastern Division, one that includes East Carolina (for one more year before it bolts for the Big East), Marshall, UAB and Southern Miss.

That would put newcomers North Texas, Louisiana Tech and Texas-San Antonio in the West along with Tulsa, Rice, UTEP and Tulane (for one year before it, too, joins the Big East).

Another adjustment will have to be made in 2015 when Old Dominion and Charlotte start up in football.

FAU has done its job in moving this program forward. Now let’s see if the fans respond and do their job by actually filling more than a quarter of the seats in the new football stadium.